What is Wrong with My Tomatoes??

We have planted all of our tomatoes and we are now waiting for them to grow and give us some great tomatoes to eat, and salsa to make. I now can see that our tomatoes are having a few problems not just aphids. I thought I would write about a few problems you can have with your tomatoes and ways you can take care of those problems.

1. Reddish Purple Leaves: This is a phosphorus deficiency....this happens when your soil is under 6.0 test your soil. I use fish emulsion for a short time to correct this problem.

2. Yellow Leaves: This is a nitrogen deficiency. I spray my plants with fish emulsion and if they have not been planted I try to plant them as soon as possible.

3. Slow Growth: This is potassium deficiency. I have found that if I add a good amount of compost to the soil in the fall this helps this problem a lot. Right now you can always add a little compost tea.

4. Black End Rot: This happens when you water infrequently when fruit is developing. Once you see the black spot you can not fix it....you can cut that spot off and eat the remaining fruit that is what I do why waste? You can fix this problem with regular watering and mulching well.

5. Holes in Leaves: This is probably the tomato horn worm. You can fix this by picking and removing pest.....but if you see that they have white eggs on it's back leave it there this is a good thing these eggs will produce parastic wasps and they will help kill any remaining horn worms that you find on your tomatoes leaves.

6. Little holes in your fruit: Birds...keep a bird bath near your garden. Birds peck at fruit in the hot days of summer to get a little moisture.

Happy Gardening...

Lynn